Pyluach: Hebrew (Jewish) Calendar Dates

2.3.0 · active · verified Fri Apr 10

Pyluach is a Python package designed for manipulating Hebrew (Jewish) calendar dates. It provides functionalities for converting between Hebrew and Gregorian dates, calculating date differences, finding weekdays, identifying weekly Torah readings (Parshios), and determining holidays. The library is actively maintained, with version 2.3.0 being the current stable release, and new minor versions released periodically.

Warnings

gotcha The `holiday()` method (e.g., `HebrewDate.holiday()`) includes all major, minor, and fast days, whereas the `festival()` method (e.g., `HebrewDate.festival()` or `hebrewcal.festival()`) explicitly *excludes* fast days and often includes other working festival days (Chol Hamoed etc.). Using the wrong method can lead to unexpected holiday lists.
Fix: Carefully choose between `holiday()` for comprehensive listings and `festival()` when fast days should be excluded or specific festival types are needed. Review the method documentation for precise behavior and parameters like `include_working_days`.
gotcha Pyluach's `JulianDay` object, while representing a Julian day number, treats the day transition at midnight (like conventional dates) rather than the astronomical convention of noon. This can lead to off-by-one errors for users expecting traditional astronomical Julian Day behavior around midday.
Fix: Be aware that `pyluach`'s internal `JulianDay` numbers align with midnight transitions. If astronomical precision around noon is critical, manual adjustment or external astronomical libraries might be needed to map to `pyluach`'s `JulianDay` representation correctly.
gotcha Hebrew month numbering in `pyluach`, especially when instantiating `HebrewDate` or `hebrewcal.Month`, follows a non-sequential order: Tishrei (7) through Adar Sheni (13, if applicable for a leap year), then Nissan (1) through Elul (6). This differs from a simple 1-12 or 1-13 enumeration and can be a source of `ValueError` if incorrect month numbers are used.
Fix: Always refer to the `pyluach` documentation or use named constants/functions (if available, or create your own mapping) to ensure correct Hebrew month integer representation, especially for months like Tishrei (7) or Nissan (1).

Install

pip install pyluach Install stable version

Imports

dates
```
from pyluach import dates
```
hebrewcal
```
from pyluach import hebrewcal
```
parshios
```
from pyluach import parshios
```
HebrewDate
```
from pyluach.dates import HebrewDate
```
GregorianDate
```
from pyluach.dates import GregorianDate
```

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to get the current Hebrew date, convert between Gregorian and Hebrew dates, identify Jewish holidays, and retrieve the weekly Torah portion (Parsha) using `pyluach`.

from pyluach import dates, hebrewcal, parshios

# Get today's Hebrew date
today = dates.HebrewDate.today()
print(f"Today's Hebrew date: {today.hebrew_date_string(hebrew=True)}")
print(f"Today's Gregorian equivalent: {today.to_greg()}")

# Convert between Gregorian and Hebrew dates
greg_date = dates.GregorianDate(1986, 3, 21)
heb_date = greg_date.to_heb()
print(f"Gregorian {greg_date} is Hebrew {heb_date}")

# Check for holidays and parsha
rosh_hashana = dates.HebrewDate(5782, 7, 1)
print(f"Holiday on Rosh Hashana 5782: {rosh_hashana.holiday()}")

# Get weekly Torah portion
parsha_date = dates.GregorianDate(2021, 3, 10)
print(f"Parsha for {parsha_date}: {parshios.getparsha_string(parsha_date)}")

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